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Lewis Moody wants Martin Johnson to come back in from the cold © Getty Images

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Martin Johnson should have some role within the coaching staff at Leicester according to his former Tigers and England team-mate Lewis Moody.

Johnson left his role as England team manager in the wake of the disastrous 2011 Rugby World Cup and has not been back in a coaching role since. For Moody, who played alongside Johnson both at Leicester and for England, he feels the time is right for Johnson to come back in from the cold and he would love that to be at the Tigers.

"Johnno's a huge miss to the game and he has a massive contribution to make," Moody told the Rugby Paper. "He is a fantastic coach who has a great understanding of the game and the fact he is not in senior coaching is destroying me.

"Having played and trained under Johnno, you know how good he is as an individual and that Leicester side of the late-Nineties and early-Noughties was HIS side. It didn't matter what coach you had, he ran it - and it was the same for England.

"It's a tragedy that he's out of the game so he needs to be brought back in. I'd love to see him come back in some capacity at Leicester but maybe it's a timing thing. The 2011 World Cup was a big blow but we need him back involved."

And Moody also wants to see another one of his ex-Tigers team-mates Geordan Murphy taking on a more important role within the Leicester set-up. Murphy replaced Matt O'Connor as the team's backs coach prior to last season and following criticism from Neil Back where he labelled the Tigers' attack "woeful", Moody feels Murphy is the answer to their problems.

"From everything I hear Geordan's doing a wonderful job down there so I don't think it will be long before people start wanting to see him in a more senior role and taking on more responsibility," Moody said. "You certainly want to see Geordan elevated through the ranks very quickly because he's got such a great understanding of the game.

"He's got a fresh look on it, a great rapport with the players and the fans, so the sooner that Leicester get him into a more senior position the better it will be for all concerned - including Cockers."